Northern nightingale

My neighbour alerted me this afternoon while I was gardening that there was a blackcap singing in the laurel hedge between our two houses.
I have never seen a blackcap for they are shy little birds, but their song is distinctive, and they have earned themselves the title of “northern nightingale”.
 
So I switched on my Merlin app and these are the birds recorded in the garden on a May afternoon:  chaffinch, wood pigeon, great tit, blackbird, sandpiper, blackcap, wren, robin, blue tit, goldfinch, chiffchaff, thrush, starling, siskin.
 
Sadly, no sign of sparrows. Once sparrows were the most common garden bird but for several reasons they are on decline, from pollution, lack of suitable nesting places to disease.
I wonder if any Blippers have recorded birds in their garden using the Merlin app? (its free). I was astonished at the number we had .